Hybrid electronic lockbox

ABSTRACT

A method of managing an electric lockbox, such as to reduce processing times associated with remittance processing, may include receiving, by one or more computing devices at a financial institution, a batch file and/or one or more physical remittances at lockbox associated with a payee, the batch file and any physical remittances comprising information associated with a plurality of financial transactions between one or more payors and the payee. The one or more computing devices may then determine whether at least a portion of the information corresponds to a payee preference. A report may be communicated to the payee, the report including a record of the plurality of financial transactions as a set of documents corresponding to the payee preference. In some cases, the report may include at least a portion of the remittance information associated with the plurality of financial transactions deposited into an account associated with the payee.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/458,928 entitled “Hybrid Electronic Lockbox”, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Entities, such as financial institutions, provide a lockbox service formany of their clients. The clients that use the lockbox service aretypically businesses that receive payments from their customers. Forinstance, when their customer pays a utility bill, such as a cabletelevision bill, to a utility provider, the customer sends the paymentto a lockbox address, which may be, for example, a post office box,rather than directly to the utility provider. The financial institution,through an intermediate, such as a courier, regularly picks up thepayments from the lockbox, opens them, scans them, and processes thepayments for the financial institution's client. The lockbox servicetakes care of the entire process, from payment handling to crediting theclient's account.

Currently, the U.S. Postal Service or other mail delivery service mustphysically carry each payment envelope to the physical lockbox address.Because the customers can be geographically diverse, this often resultsin one or more days of delay between dropping off of the payment paperdocument and receiving the payment paper document at the lockboxaddress. As such, there remains a need for improved systems andtechniques for minimizing time delays caused by delivery of one or morepayment paper documents via a mail delivery service.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not anextensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identifykey or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope ofthe disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts ofthe disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the descriptionbelow.

In some cases, a method for managing an electric lockbox for remittanceprocessing may include receiving, at a computer device at a financialinstitution, a batch file at an electronic lockbox associated with apayee, the batch file including communications information associatedwith correspondence between at least one payor (e.g., a consumer, athird-party on behalf of the consumer, and the like) and the payee. Insome cases, the method may include receiving one or more physicalremittances corresponding to correspondence between the at least onepayor and the payee. The computer device may then determine whether atleast a portion of the communications information included in the batchfile corresponds to a payee request. In some cases, the method mayinclude receiving one or more physical remittances corresponding tocorrespondence between the at least one payor and the payee, where thecorrespondence is communicated as either an entry in the batch file oras a physical remittances based on the payee request. The computerdevice may then communicate a consumer correspondence report to thepayee, the consumer correspondence report including at least the portionof the communications information that corresponds to the payee request.In some cases, the communications information may include at least aportion of the remittance information associated with one or morepayments deposited into an account associated with the payee.

In some examples, an apparatus may include a communications interfacecommunicatively coupled to a network, a processor communicativelycoupled to the communications interface, and a non-transitory memorydevice communicatively coupled to the processor and the communicationsinterface. In some instances, the non-transitory memory device may storeinstructions that, when executed by the processor, configure toapparatus to communicate, via the network, a driver file to a paymentprocessor. The driver file may provide information corresponding to aspecified format of a batch file that may include consumercommunications received by the payee. The apparatus may then beconfigured to receive the batch file via the network, where the batchfile may include consumer communications information received by thepayment processor within a specified time period. The apparatus mayassign the batch file to an electronic lockbox associated with the payeeand report the consumer communications information to the payee. In somecases, the apparatus may assign the batch file to a hybrid electroniclockbox when a payee preference indicates that at least a portion of theconsumer communications information may be physically delivered separatefrom the batch file.

In some examples, another illustrative method may include receiving, bya computer device, a payee request file from a payee. The payee requestfile may include one or more reporting requests associated with consumercommunications received at a payment processor. The computer device maycreate a driver file based on the one or more requests received in thepayee request file, where the driver file may specify at least a formatfor a batch file for providing information corresponding to one or moreconsumer communications associated with the payee that may be receivedat the payment processor. The computer device may assign the batch fileto an electronic lockbox associated with the payee. In some cases, thebatch file may include information corresponding to the one or moreconsumer communications received at the payment processor. The apparatusmay then create a report that may include at least some of the one ormore consumer communications received in the batch file, wherein each ofthe one or more consumer communications is delimited by a delimiterdefined in the payee request file. In some cases, a report may includeinformation about one or more physical remittances when the electroniclockbox corresponds to a hybrid electronic lockbox.

Some aspects as disclosed herein may be directed to, for example,managing the lockbox service and reducing the delay between mailing apayment and crediting a client's account. Any type of electronic lockboxmay be contemplated within the scope of this disclosure. For example,the lockbox may be a wholesale lockbox, a retail lockbox, or agovernment lockbox. In some cases, the lockbox may be configured toreceive a batch file from a payment processor, physical remittances or acombination of a batch file and physical remittances. The paymentprocessor may include any type of remittance sent by a consumer inpayment to a payee within the batch file. In some cases, the paymentprocessor may physically deliver consumer correspondence information tothe lockbox provider based on one or more business rules or governmentalregulations. A lockbox service may include any type of remittancepayment processing, for example, domestic payments may be processed orinternational payments may be processed. In some cases, the lockboxservice may reject a remittance payment when a funds type (e.g., adomestic funds type and an international funds type) is different thanexpected.

Historically, much of the consumer communications was sent via a postalservice for collection at a payment processor computer system and/or atan electronic lockbox system. As such, many delays were introduced intothe consumer communications processing merely by sending the informationvia the normal mail service, or other physical messaging systems. In thesystem 200, much of these latencies may be reduced by communicating atleast a portion of the consumer communications electronically. Forexample, a period of time between when the consumer sends thecommunications to a payment processor computer system to when a depositwas made into a payee account by the electronic lockbox system and/orwhen a summary report is delivered to a payee may be significantlyreduced by reducing or even eliminating the amount of physicalcommunications that are sent (e.g., not physically sending paper copiesof the collected communications, sending a subset of the collectedcommunication, and the like) between the different organizations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitedin the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1A shows an illustrative operating environment in which variousaspects of the disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 1B shows another illustrative operating environment in whichvarious aspects of the disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of at least a portion of a system forproviding consumer communications to an electronic lockbox systemaccording to one or more illustrative aspects described herein;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative batch file for communicating consumercommunications information for use at an electronic lockbox systemaccording to one or more illustrative aspects described herein;

FIGS. 4A-4E illustrate example portions of mail imaged at a paymentprocessor computer system according to one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative simulated envelope image created usinginformation received at the electronic lockbox from the paymentprocessor;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate examples of at least a portion of illustrativeflow diagrams of methods for managing an electronic lockbox according toone or more illustrative aspects described herein; and

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of at least a portion of an organizationalhierarchy for managing consumer communication information in a batchfile for use by an electronic lockbox according to one or moreillustrative aspects described herein; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an illustrative system forreducing times for processing financial transactions within anelectronic lockbox system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of various illustrative embodiments,reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a parthereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, variousembodiments in which the claimed subject matter may be practiced. It isto be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and thatstructural and functional modifications may be made, without departingfrom the scope of the present claimed subject matter.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example block diagram of a computing device 101(e.g., a computer server, desktop computer, laptop computer, tabletcomputer, and the like) in an example computing environment 100 that maybe used according to one or more illustrative embodiments of thedisclosure. The computing device 101, in this example, may have aprocessor 103 for controlling overall operation of the server and itsassociated components, including for example random access memory (RAM)105, read-only memory (ROM) 107, input/output (I/O) module 109, andmemory 115.

I/O module 109 may include, e.g., a microphone, mouse, keypad, touchscreen, scanner, optical reader, and/or stylus (or other inputdevice(s)) through which a user of computing device 101 may provideinput, and may also include one or more of a speaker for providing audiooutput and a video display device for providing textual, audiovisual,and/or graphical output. Software may be stored within memory 115 and/orother storage to provide instructions to processor 103 for enablingcomputing device 101 to perform various functions. For example, memory115 may store software used by the computing device 101, such as anoperating system 117, application programs 119, and an associateddatabase 121. Alternatively, some or all of the computer executableinstructions for computing device 101 may be embodied in hardware orfirmware (not shown).

The computing device 101 may operate in a networked environmentsupporting connections to one or more remote computers, such asterminals 141 and 151. The terminals 141 and 151 may be personalcomputers or servers that include many or all of the elements describedabove with respect to the computing device 101. The network connectionsdepicted in FIG. 1A include a local area network (LAN) 125 and a widearea network (WAN) 129, but may also include other networks. When usedin a LAN networking environment, the computing device 101 may beconnected to the LAN 125 through a network interface or adapter 123.When used in a WAN networking environment, the computing device 101 mayinclude a modem 127 or other network interface for establishingcommunications over the WAN 129, such as the Internet 131. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative andother means of establishing a communications link between the computersmay be used. The existence of any of various well-known protocols suchas TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and the like is presumed.Computing device 101 and/or terminals 141 or 151 may also be mobileterminals (e.g., mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, notebooks, and thelike) including various other components, such as a battery, speaker,and antennas (not shown). Any of the elements of FIG. 1A may be orotherwise include one or more computing devices.

The disclosure is operational with numerous types of general purpose orspecial purpose computing devices. Examples of well-known computingdevices that may be suitable for use with the disclosure include, butare not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held orlaptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems,set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environmentsthat include multiple networked computing devices such as any of theabove systems or devices, and the like.

FIG. 1B illustrates another example operating environment in whichvarious aspects of the disclosure may be implemented. Any of theelements of FIG. 1B may be or otherwise include one or more computingdevices. As illustrated, a system 160 may include one or moreworkstations 161. The workstations 161 may, in some examples, beconnected by one or more communications links 162. A computer network163 may be linked via communications links 165 to a server 164. In thesystem 160, the server 164 may be any suitable server, processor,computer, or data processing device, or combination of the same. Theserver 164 may be used to process the instructions received from, andthe transactions entered into by, one or more participants.

According to one or more aspects, the system 160 may be associated with(e.g., owned, controlled by, and/or physically located at the premisesof) a financial institution, such as a bank. Various elements may belocated within the financial institution and/or may be located remotelyfrom the financial institution. For instance, one or more workstations161 may be located within a branch office of a financial institution.The workstations 161 may be used, for example, by customer servicerepresentatives or other employees of the financial institution inconducting financial transactions or payment processing via the network163. Additionally or alternatively, one or more workstations 161 may belocated at a remote location. The workstations 161 also may be used inconducting financial transactions or payment processing via the computernetwork 163 or computer network 170.

The computer network 163 and the computer network 170 may be anysuitable computer networks including the Internet, an intranet, awide-area network (WAN), a local-area network (LAN), a wireless network,a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a frame relay network, anasynchronous transfer mode network, an electronic private network (VPN),or any combination of any of the same. The communications links 162 and165 may be any communications links suitable for communicating betweenthe workstations 161 and server 164, such as network links, dial-uplinks, wireless links, hard-wired links, and the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of at least a portion of a system 200 forproviding consumer communications to an electronic lockbox system 220according to one or more illustrative aspects described herein. In somecases, the system 200 may include a payment processor computer system210, an electronic lockbox system 220, and/or a payee computer system240. In some cases, the payee computer system 240 may include a datarepository 242, a computer device 244, such as the computing device 101of FIG. 1A and/or a user interface 246. Any of the elements of FIG. 2may be or otherwise include one or more computing devices.

In some cases, the payee may desire to work with one or more otherbusiness organizations in processing communications received from one ormore consumers. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the payee 920 may be abusiness organization providing products and/or services 915 toconsumers 910. For example, the payee 920 may include businessorganizations such as a healthcare provider (e.g., a hospital, adoctor's group, and the like), an insurance provider, a utility (e.g.,an electric utility, a natural gas utility, and the like) or the like.Once a product and/or service is provided to the consumers 910, thepayee may allow the consumers 950, or a third-party on behalf of theconsumers 950, to provide a payment, or other supplemental information,via a postal service and/or electronically using one or more computingdevices 914 (e.g., a computer, a smart phone, a tablet, and the like).In some cases, to manage communications sent by the consumers 910, thepayee 920 may work with one or more other business organizations (e.g.,a payment processor 930, a financial institution 940, and the like) toprocess consumer communications 925, including transactions (e.g.,financial transactions, payments, and the like) and/or othercorrespondence documents, such as a document including supplementalinformation requested by and/or provided to the payee 920. For example,the payee 920 may desire the payment processor 930 to collect payorfinancial transactions and/or other consumer communications 925 over aspecified time period (e.g., a month, a week, a year, and the like) andprovide the correspondence information, including payment information,to a lockbox provider (e.g., a financial institution 940). For example,a payor transaction may include a payment, or other supplementalinformation, sent by a consumer and/or by a third-party on behalf of theconsumer. The lockbox provider may receive the consumer communications925 from the payment processor 930 and process one or more paymentsreceived from the one or more payors, such as the consumers 910. Thelockbox provider may provide a report 985 to the payee 920 that mayinclude information corresponding to the processed payment(s) and/or anyother correspondence received from the consumers 910 within thespecified time period. In some cases, the payee 920 may desire toreceive the report in a specified format. For example, the payee 920 mayimplement software to manage payment information and/or othercorrespondence received from consumers 910.

In some cases, this software may be configured to receive the paymentinformation from the lockbox provider in a file, or a series of files(e.g., the report 985). To differentiate correspondence received fromdifferent payors (e.g., the consumers 910), the software may beconfigured to use one or more delimiters. In many cases, the delimitermay be an element common between different communications received fromthe consumers 910. Because, at least historically, much of the consumercorrespondence was received via a postal service, one such commonelement used as a delimiter may be an envelope and/or an image of anenvelope in which the consumer correspondence was sent. However, otherdelimiters may also be used, such as a payment coupon, a text fileincluding a customer number, or other information that may be used todifferentiate between individual consumers or other payors. In somecases, the consumer correspondence may be sent in a way that a specifieddelimiter may not be received by the payment processor and/or thelockbox provider. In such cases, the specified delimiter, such as anenvelope or an image of an envelope, may be simulated such as by thelockbox provider. For example, in the case of an electronically receivedconsumer transaction, an envelope may is not provided with thecorrespondence. As such, the payment processor 930 and/or the financialinstitution 940 may produce a simulated envelope image for use as atransaction delimiter in a report 985 communicated to the payee, such asvia the network 205. In some cases, a user of the payee computer system240 may access one or more user interface screens via the user interface246 to specify a specified delimiter and/or other information specifiedto be included in the report 985 received from the electronic lockboxsystem 220. For example, the user may specify that an envelope, or othersuch information, be used as a delimiter between different consumercommunications.

In some cases, the electronic lockbox system 220 may include a datarepository 230, a user interface 226, and/or one or more computerdevices 225, such as a server 224. In some cases, the data repository230 may be configured to store instructions for providing an electroniclockbox service and/or for otherwise storing information associated withone or more electronic lockboxes. For example, the data repository 230may store payee requests that may be received from one or more payees,where the requests may include information used by the payee computersystem 240. In some cases, the data repository may be configured tostore consumer communication information, such as payment information,consumer correspondence information and/or one or more images ofconsumer communications that may have been sent via the postal system.In some cases, the data repository 230 may be configured to store areport, or portion of a report, that may be communicated to the payeecomputer system 240 via the network 205.

In some cases, the data repository 230 may be configured to storeinstructions, that when executed by the one or more computing devices225, such as the server 224, cause the one or more computing devices 225to implement a deposit processor 231, one or more electronic lockboxes232, such as the electronic lockbox 233, a driver file generator 235, abatch file processor 236, an image generator 237, and/or a reportgenerator 238. In some cases, the server 224 may receive requests (e.g.,a requests file, a preferences file, and the like) from the payeecomputer system 240 via the network 205 for receiving informationcorresponding to one or more consumer communications and/or payments. Insome cases, the driver file generator 235 may be configured to receivethe payee requests file and process the payee requests to produce adriver file 955.

In some cases, one or more of the electronic lockboxes 232 may beconfigurable to process electronic files, paper files and/or acombination of electronic files and paper files. In cases, where anelectronic lockbox processes a combination of electronic and paperfiles, the lockbox may be considered a “hybrid” electronic lockbox 234.In some cases, due to meet regulatory requirements defined by one ormore regulatory agencies, the electronic lockbox system 220 may beconfigured to process certain transactions using physical (e.g., paper)files. For example, the electronic lockbox system 220 may processremittances based on one or more business requirements (e.g., recordkeeping requirements, foreign currency processing requirements, and thelike) that specify that such transactions are to be processed usingphysical copies, such as to ensure that one or more regulatoryrequirements are met. Further, the payee may desire to have certaintransactions processed using a physical paper copy, such as cardpayments (e.g., a credit card payment, a debit card payment, a one-timeuse card payment, and the like), a check drawn on a foreign institution,a remittance in a foreign currency, and the like. To account for suchcases, the electronic lockbox system 220 may provide the ability for thelockboxes 232 to process electronic remittance files, paper remittancefiles or a combination of electronic and paper remittance files.

In some cases, the driver file 955 may be configured to allow thefinancial institution 940 to communicate payee preferences regardingwhether to provide remittance information as an electronic file, as aphysical paper communication, or a combination of electronic and papercommunications. For example, the payee 920 may define one or moreprocessing scenarios that may use physical paper due to eitherregulatory needs and/or because a fully electronic process will notaccommodate one or more business rules for processing certainremittances, such as foreign checks, card payments, and the like. Forexample, the payee 920 may provide instructions to accept and/or rejectremittances based on payor information, currency information and/or thelike. In some cases, remittances requiring collection of foreigncurrency and/or conversion to a domestic funds type (e.g., conversionfrom Euros or Japanese Yen to U.S. dollars) may be specified to be sentas a paper remittance. In such cases, the hybrid electronic lockbox 234may be capable of detecting and/or rejecting remittances not compliantwith the payee's instructions. As part of the validation process, theelectronic lockbox system 220 may be configured to isolate any itemrejected during processing of the electronic batch file and/or thephysical paper remittances associated with the lockbox. Once rejected,the electronic lockbox system 220 may communicate the rejected itemand/or information about the rejected item to the payee 920 and/or thepayment processor 930. In some cases, one or more remittances may betagged for further inspection to determine whether the remittance meetsthe payee requirements, such as those regarding electronic communicationand/or physical communication, compliance with imaging requirements orcurrency type requirements, and the like. In such cases, each remittanceidentified as not meeting a payee preference, may be examined further,either manually or automatically by the electronic lockbox system 220.

In some cases, the driver file 955 may include settings that indicatethat an associated electronic lockbox is to be a hybrid electroniclockbox 239. As such, the driver file may specify one or moreremittances that are to be physically sent to the financial institution940. For example, the driver file may specify that remittances inforeign currency and/or drawn on a foreign financial institution are tobe communicated physically (e.g., paper) to the financial institution940. In some cases, other remittances may be communicated as a physicalcopy when indicated by a government regulation and/or by a businessrule. For example, a quality assurance regulation may specify that acertain percentage of remittances (e.g., about 5%, about 10%, etc.) areto be sent as paper copies.

The driver file 955 may be communicated to the payment processorcomputer system 210 to produce a batch file containing informationcorresponding to the one or more consumer communications directed to thepayee. In some cases, the driver file 955 may be used define a format ofa batch file 300 to be produced by the payment processor computer system210 to communicate information corresponding to the consumercommunications 925 received from the payors (e.g., the consumers 910).For example, the driver file 955 may be used to specify a format of thebatch file 965, such as the batch file 300 of FIG. 3. By electronicallycommunicating the consumer communications 925 using a batch file 965,the processing time between when the consumers 910 make a payment andthe payee 920 receives a record of the payment is greatly reduced, inmany cases by several days or, in some cases, weeks.

For example, FIG. 3 shows an illustrative batch file 300 forcommunicating consumer communications information for use at anelectronic lockbox system according to one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein. For example, the illustrative batch file 300 mayinclude a header section 310, a customer communication section 320, anenvelope list section 330, one or more list entry sections 340, and/or atrailer section 350. In some cases, the batch file 300 may be formattedusing a one or more computer languages, such as extensible markuplanguage (XML). The batch file may be used for importing data and/orimages into the electronic lockbox system 220 from one or more paymentprocessor computer systems, such as the payment processor computersystem 210. In some cases, the batch file may include one or moredifferent transactions and/or communications including one or moredocuments and/or document images. In some cases, each batch file 300 maybe used for an individual batch of consumer communications (e.g.,documents and/or payments). In other cases, the batch file 300 may beused to communicate different batches of consumer communications, suchas a first group of consumer communications received during a first timeperiod, and a second group of consumer communications during a secondtime period.

In some cases, the header section 310 may include a batch file formatsection to specify a version associated with the format of the batchfile. For example, one or more requests provided by the payee may changeover time, such that the payee may communicate the changes to theelectronic lockbox system 220 in a second requests file. In anillustrative example, a payee 920 may desire to update the payeepreferences 945 in a requests file on a frequent basis (e.g., daily,weekly, and the like). At such times, the electronic lockbox system 220may be configured to communicate an updated driver file 955 to thepayment processor 930 on a similar frequent basis. For example, if thepayee 920 updates the payee preferences 945 on a frequent (e.g., daily)basis, the electronic lockbox system may communicate the driver file955, which may include updates included in the payee preferences 945, ona same frequent (e.g., daily) basis. For example, the electronic lockboxsystem 220 may create a second driver file associated with the secondrequests file, which may then be communicated to the payment processorcomputer system 210 for use in creating a batch file indicating adifferent version (e.g., a second version, a third version, and thelike) in the header section 310. In some cases, the header section 310may also include a date and/or time at which the batch file 300 wascreated and/or communicated to the electronic lockbox system 220. Thebatch file 300 may further include a payee identifier section 315 forindicating an identity of the payment processor providing the batch file300. In some cases, the source information (e.g., a payment processoridentifier) may be provided at a batch level, such as in the payeeidentifier section 315, or with individual communications. In somecases, a full lockbox identifier (e.g., xxxx-yyyyyy), or a lockboxnumber (e.g., yyyyyy) may be provided in the payee identifier section315. When a full lockbox identifier has been provided, then a site code(e.g., xxxx) may be checked for accuracy.

Often, the payment processor may include one or more images associatedwith the different consumer communications. The batch file 300 mayfurther include an image link section 317 that may be used for providinga link to the different images associated with the consumercommunications (e.g., scanned images of a check, a payment coupon, aletter, and the like). In some cases, the images may be fetched, such asby the electronic lockbox system 220, at a location specified in theimage link section 317, such as within an image file 975. In some cases,the images may be included in or otherwise associated with the batchfile 300. In some cases, a memory location may be specified in the imagelink section 317, such as a starting location in a memory (e.g., thedata repository 230, the data repository 212, and the like) and/or inthe image file 975 at which the images may be fetched. In other cases,one or more of the images may be grouped, such as in a packed format,such as a portable document format (PDF).

In some cases, the customer communications section 320 may include oneor more different customer communications, such as those listed in theenvelope list 330. The envelope list 330 may include one or moredifferent list entries 340, 345. The envelope list 330 may include orotherwise indicate a set of electronic (e.g., virtual) documents, whichmay be delimited by a specified delimiter, such as an envelope. Eachenvelope may be independent from the other envelopes within the envelopelist 330. In some cases, each list entry 340, 345 (e.g. an “envelope”)may include one or more of a payee identifier 340 a, a customerinformation section 340 b, a document information section 340 c, one ormore image identifiers 340 d, a payment information section 340 e,and/or a correspondence information section 340 f.

An envelope identifier (not shown) may optionally be included. Whenused, the envelope identifier may be sequentially numbered within theenvelope list section 330. Each envelope identifier may be used to referto a particular envelope within the batch, such as when an error occursduring processing. The payee identifier 340 a of a particular list entry340, 345 may be the same as or different than the payee identifier 315of the batch file. In cases, where they differ, then the payeeidentifier at the list entry level may override the batch level payeeidentifier 315. In some cases, one or more different fields may bedefined in the consumer information section 340 b. For example, theconsumer information may include one or more of a consumer name, aconsumer address (e.g., a street address, a city, a state, and thelike), a postal code, and/or other consumer identification information(e.g., a phone number).

In some cases, the document information section 340 c may optionallyinclude a document identifier. If omitted, each document may besequentially numbered within each list entry 340, 345. The documentidentifier information may include one or more of an envelopeidentification number, a check identification number, a stubidentification number, a page number, and/or any combination of suchinformation (e.g., a combined check and stub, a combined stub and check,and the like). In some cases, each document associated with the documentinformation section 340 c may be associated with data and/or one or moreimages. In some cases, one or more of the documents referenced in thedocument information section 340 c may not include any associated dataand/or images. In some cases, the information associated with thedocument section may be considered redundant information, such as whenthe document data is associated with an envelope, which may correspondto essentially the same information as the consumer informationassociated with the particular list entry 340, 345. In some cases, eachdocument information section 340 c may include one or more differentdocuments, such as an envelope and/or one or more of a check, a coupon,a correspondence document (e.g., a letter), and the like. In some cases,each of the documents associated with the different list entries 340,345 may be associated with an image identifier, such as an imageidentifier that may be presented in an image identifier section 340 dthat may be associated with each of the different documents identifiedin the document information section 340 c. For example, a document mayinclude an image identifier that may include a link to images stored inthe data repository 230 and/or a link to an image accessible via thenetwork 205, such as an image stored in the data repository 212 of thepayment processor computer system 210. In some cases, images may not beprovided for electronic communications and/or transactions. In somecases, an image may be generated from the electronically providedinformation. The generation of images may not be available in all cases.For example, some images may need branding, which may require a specialcode. If an image is provided of a check, then an image of both thefront and the back of the check may be provided. For non-checks, boththe front and the back may be imaged, or in some cases, only a frontimage may be provided. In some cases, the image identifier section 340 dmay further include additional information corresponding to the providedimages, such as a location for retrieving the image, an identifier ofwhether a front image or both a front and back image is available, aformat identifier (e.g., jpeg, tiff, and the like), a resolution, animage name, and/or the like.

In some cases, the payment information section 340 e may be associatedwith an image in the image identifier section 340 d and/or a document inthe document information section 340 c. For example, an illustrativedocument in the document information section 340 e may be a check, whichin turn may include a check image listed in the image identifier section340 d. In some cases, the payment information section 340 e may includeinformation associated with a consumer payment made by check,information associated with a consumer payment made using a card, and/orinformation associated with an electronic consumer payment. For example,the payment information section 340 e may include one or more of a checkdate (e.g., a payment date), a remitter name, an account number, a memo(e.g., a comment section), a payee identifier that may be the same as ordifferent than the payee identifier in the payee identifier section 315and/or the payee identifier section 340 a, a payment amount, and/or afunds type. In some cases, when the payee identifier is different thanthe payee identifier 315 and/or the payee identifier 340 a, the payeeidentifier associated with the payment information 340 e may overridethe other payee identifiers 315, 340 a. In some cases, the paymentinformation may include magnetic ink character recognition (MICR), suchas when the payment information is associated with a payment made by aconsumer using a check. The MICR information may include a transitnumber, an account number, and/or a check number.

For a hybrid electronic lockbox 234, the batch file may include anindication whether physical copies remittances are to be associated withthe electronic file. For example, the batch file may include an entry inthe envelope list 330 corresponding to one or more of the physicalremittances sent to the financial institution to be associated with thehybrid electronic lockbox 234. In some cases, the image link list 317may include an image of the physical remittances to allow forverification once the physical copies are received at the financialinstitution 940. For example, each physical remittance sent to thefinancial institution may include an identifier (e.g., a payor name, acontrol number, and the like) for identification purposes. Acorresponding entry may be made in one or more sections of the driverfile to ensure that a correct and/or accurate physical copy wasreceived. For example, an image of the physical correspondence may beincluded in the image link list 317 and/or identifying informationassociated with the physical correspondence may be included in theenvelope list 330. When associating the batch file and the paper copiesof the remittances to the hybrid electronic lockbox 234, the identifyinginformation may be checked to ensure that each of the expected physicalcorrespondences were received. In some cases, portions of thisverification process may be done manually or electronically, as desired.

In some cases, the trailer section 350 may optionally include summaryinformation (e.g., a total number of entries in the envelope listsection 330) and/or communication verification information (e.g., achecksum).

Returning to FIG. 2, the payment processor computer system 210 mayprovide the batch file 300 to the electronic lockbox system at specifiedintervals (e.g., monthly). The batch file 300 may be communicated to theelectronic lockbox system 220 via the network 205. The electroniclockbox system 200 may receive the batch file 300 and assign the batchfile to an electronic lockbox 233 that may be associated with the batchfile 300 and/or one or more entries within the batch file. For example,the batch file processor 236 may process the batch file 300 to determinean appropriate lockbox 233 to associate the batch file, such as bycomparing the payee identifier 315 with one or more of the payeeidentifier(s) 340 a associated with each of the list entries 340, 345 inthe envelope list 330, if provided, to determine the appropriate lockbox233.

Once to the appropriate electronic lockbox 233, the batch file 300and/or the image file(s) 975 may be processed by the batch fileprocessor 236, such as to process any payments provided by the one ormore consumers, or on behalf of the one or more consumers, and/or tocreate the report summarizing the consumer communications and/orpayments deposited into an account associated with the payee. In somecases, the batch file processor 236 may then process payment informationprovided in the payment information section 340 e associated with theone or more list entries 340, 345. In some cases, the paymentinformation, such as check information, electronic payment information,may be analyzed to determine a funds type associated with each consumerpayment in the batch file. If the payment is to be processed using afunds type (e.g., a domestic funds type or an international funds type)not specified by the payee, the payment may be rejected by theelectronic lockbox system 220. In some cases, such a rejectedtransaction may cause the complete batch file to be rejected, so that anotification and/or the batch file may be returned to the paymentprocessor for correction. In such cases, the payee may further benotified of any errors that may occur during processing of the batchfile. In other cases, any payment having a rejected funds type may berejected individually, where the electronic lockbox system 220 maynotify one or more of the payee and the payment processor of whichtransactions had been rejected by the batch file processor 236. In somecases, both domestic funds types and different international funds typesmay be approved for processing by the payee. Once validated the depositprocessor 231 may be configured to process the payment information fordeposit into an account associated with the payee.

Once the payments have been processed, the report generator 238 mayprocess the batch file information associated with the lockbox 233. Forexample, the report generator 238 may be configured to generate a reportfor communication to the payee computer system 240 based on one or morerequests received from the payee computer system 240 in the requestsfile. The report may provide the payee information corresponding to theconsumer communications received at the payment processor during theassociated time period (e.g., a month). In some cases, the report mayinclude any correspondence (e.g., a letter) sent by a consumer, or onbehalf of the consumer, to the payee. In some cases, the reportgenerator 238 may be configured to generate a report where theinformation is organized as information (e.g., payment information,correspondence information, and the like) associated with a list ofconsumers and/or other payors. In some cases, this information may beorganized using delimiters, such as an envelope image. When no envelopeimage is available, such as for electronically received communicationsat the payment processor computer system 210, an envelope image, acorrespondence image, a coupon image, and/or another image, may begenerated, such as by the image generator 237. The report generator 238may then generate a report 985 detailing the received consumercorrespondence (e.g., letters, payments, and the like) using the batchfile 300, the physical communications, and/or the associated imagefile(s) 975 received during the associated time period, using theenvelope image delimiter and/or a simulated envelope image, that may besimulated by the image generator 237. The report generator 238 may becapable of reporting the remittance information to the payee using anelectronic remittance report, a paper remittance report or a reportincluding both electronic remittances and paper remittances based on oneor more payee requirements.

FIGS. 4A-4E illustrate example portions of mail imaged at a paymentprocessor computer system 210 according to one or more illustrativeaspects described herein. In some cases, one or more payors may sendcorrespondence directed to the payee, wherein the correspondence mayinclude a payment and/or another communication (e.g., a letter, anexplanation, and the like). In some cases, the address to which theconsumer directs the correspondence may correspond to an addressassociated with the payment processor. In some cases, the correspondencemay be sent electronically, such as by email, via a website, and/or thelike, thereby partially or even completely avoiding the need tophysically mail/deliver papers in association with a lockboxtransaction. In other cases, the consumer communications may be sent viaa postal system.

For example, mail 912 may be dropped off (such as by a payor) at a postoffice or other public or private mail delivery or courier service. Atthe post office, mail may be sorted and distributed to one or moredestinations in accordance with the destination address indicated on theitems of mail. However, at least some items of mail bearing a specificdestination identifier, such as a specific destination address orportion thereof (e.g., a specific zip code or lockbox identifier), maybe routed to a location associated with the payment processor. Forexample, mail that may be addressed to one or more predeterminedlockboxes having specific zip codes and/or lockbox identifier may berouted by the post office a geographic location associated with thepayment processor. Once received at the payment processor location, themail, or other correspondence, may be processed by the payment processorcomputer system 210.

In some cases, the payment processor computer system 210 may include oneor more scanning devices (scanners) 218, one or more other computingdevices (e.g., processors or servers) 215, and one or more datarepositories 212. The scanners may scan images of the mail received bythe payment processor, which may then be communicated to the electroniclockbox system 220 such as by electronic means. In some cases, the outersurface of the envelope 410 and/or the contents of the envelope 410 maybe scanned by the scanners 218. Each envelope 410 may contain any typesof one or more documents. For example, each envelope may contain paymentinformation (e.g., a check 412, card information, a money order, and thelike), coupons 411, and/or supplemental correspondence 413, asillustrated by way of example in FIGS. 4B-4E. The scanned images may besent to one or more servers 214 by the scanners 218. The scanned imagesmay be converted to text by the server 214. The scanned images may, inturn, be converted to text in any suitable manner, such as throughoptical character recognition (“OCR”). Moreover, any magnetic ink (suchas commonly used on checks) may be magnetically scanned by scanners 218and interpreted using magnetic ink character recognition (ICR)techniques.

As discussed in further detail below, the information scanned from themail may be compared, verified and/or grouped or otherwise combined intoelectronic transactions by the server 214. Additionally, the server 214may classify the electronic transactions. The server 214 may also sortthe electronic transactions and create batches of electronictransactions containing one or more of the same identifiers. Theelectronic transactions may be sent to the electronic lockbox system 220via the network 205 for processing. The processing of the transactionmay include processing any type of transaction, such as crediting aclient's account, debiting a client's account, sending a remittance,and/or storing correspondence, and the like. After at least some of theelectronic transactions are processed, the computing devices 225 maysend information representing or otherwise describing the transactionsto the data repository 230. The data repository 230 may be configured togenerate reports relating to the electronic transactions and/or to theaccounts associated with the electronic transactions, such as by thereport generator 238.

In an illustrative example, FIG. 4A shows an illustrative envelope 400that may be sent via the postal system to be received at the paymentprocessor computer system 210 of FIG. 2. For example, instructions maybe provided to a postal distribution center or post office to routecertain mail to a location associated to the payment processor based, atleast in part of on information indicated (e.g., printed or written) onthe outside of the envelope 400. For example, the mail 912 may be routedbased on a destination address 410 a, a destination zip code 410 b,and/or a lockbox identifier 410 d, 410 e indicated on the outside of theenvelope 400. Alternatively, the mail 912 may be routed based on thesender's information 410 c indicated on the outside of the envelope 400.Once received at the payment processor location, the payment processorcomputer system 210 may be configured to gather information associatedwith the consumer correspondence. For example, the outer surfaces of oneor more envelopes, such as the envelope 400, to extract a set ofinformation from an image of each of the one or more envelopes. Forexample, the server 214 may be configured to extract information fromeach of the envelope images obtained by the scanner 218. The images maythen be stored in the data repository 212, such as in one or more imagefiles 975.

Any type of information may be extracted from the envelopes. Forexample, the envelopes may contain a destination address 410 a, adestination zip code 410 b, a destination lockbox identifier 410 d, 410e and/or the sender's information 410 c, as illustrated in FIG. 4A. Insome cases, the contents of each of the envelopes may be scanned, suchas by scanner 218. The envelope 410 may contain any type of documents,including checks 412, coupons 411, and/or supplemental correspondence413, as illustrated in FIGS. 4C-4E.

In some cases a second set of information associated with each of theenvelopes may be extracted from the images and/or scanned magnetic inkof each the items within the envelope 410. The second set of informationmay be extracted from the images by processors 214. Any type ofinformation may be extracted from the items within the envelopes 410.For example, information such as the account information 411 a, paymentinformation 411 b (e.g., a payment amount, card information, bankaccount transfer information, and the like), consumer information, 412a, bank information 412 b, check number 412 c, payee information 412 d,amount information 412 e, bank account information 412 f, and/orsupplemental information 413 a, as illustrated in FIGS. 4C-4E, may beextracted. The extracted first and second sets of information for eachof the envelopes may be converted into readable text and/or othersymbols through any suitable method, such as OCR or ICR by the server214 for inclusion in the batch file.

In some cases, the first set of information may be compared to thesecond set of information for each of the envelopes to determine if thefirst and second sets of information are associated with each other asexpected. The server 214 may perform the comparison of the first andsecond sets of information. Any type of information within the first setof information and the second set of information may be compared. Forexample, the sender's information 410 c may be compared to the accountinformation 411 a to determine if the two correspond to each other. Inanother example, the destination address 410 a, destination zip code 410b, and/or destination lockbox identifier 410 d, 410 e may be comparedwith the account information 411 a to determine if the accountinformation 411 a is routinely sent. Additionally, the first set ofinformation and/or the second set of information may be verified by theserver 214, to determine the authenticity of the information. Any typeinformation may be contained and verified in the second set ofinformation. For example, if one of the items scanned was a check, thepayee's signature may be verified to determine the authenticity. In somecases, the batch file processor 236 may be configured for verifying theauthenticity of the account information, as discussed above.

In some cases, the electronic transactions may be sorted by any suitablecriteria, such as by information contained within the first set and/orsecond set of information. For example, the electronic transactions maybe sorted by information or identifiers within the first set ofinformation, such as the destination address 410 a, destination zip code410 b, destination lockbox identifier 410 d, 410 e, or the sender'sinformation 410 c. Additionally, or alternatively, the electronictransactions may be sorted by information or identifiers within thesecond set of information. For example, the electronic transactions maybe sorted by the type of transaction (e.g., a check payment, a cardpayment, an electronic payment, and the like), account information 411a, payment information 411 b, consumer information, 412 a, bankinformation 412 b, check number 412 c, payee information 412 d, amountinformation 412 e, bank account information 412 f, and/or supplementalinformation 413 a. After the electronic transactions have been sorted,batches of electronic transactions may be created, such as the batchfile associated with a particular payee. Each of the batches ofelectronic transactions may include transactions having one or more ofthe same identifiers.

In some cases, a communication addressed to a payee (e.g., an electroniclockbox 233) may include a remittance that is sent to a third party andprocessing the transaction includes sending the remittance to the thirdparty. The electronic transactions may be processed as a batch or theelectronic transactions may be processed one at a time. In at least oneexample, each batch of electronic transactions are processed together orat the same time.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative simulated envelope image 500 created usinginformation received at the electronic lockbox from the paymentprocessor. The simulated envelope image 500 may be created to looksimilar to a scan of an actual envelope, such as the envelope image ofFIG. 4A. For example, for one or more electronically receivedcommunications, the simulated envelope image 500 may include one or moreof a destination address 510 a, a destination zip code 510 b, adestination lockbox identifier 510 d, and the consumer's information 510c. In some cases, the simulated envelope image may include a simulatedpostal mark 520 that may be used to provide information corresponding towhen an electronic communication was received at the payment processorcomputer system 210. For example, the simulated postal mark 520 mayinclude a date and/or a time at which the communication was sent by thepayor, received at the payment processor computer system 210, or both.In some cases, the simulated postal mark may be created to look similarto an actual postal mark provided by the postal service.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate examples of at least a portion of illustrativeflow diagrams of methods 600, 700 for managing an electronic lockbox 233according to one or more illustrative aspects described herein. In somecases, the method 600 may begin at step 610, where a computer device(e.g., the computer device 224) may be configured to receive a batchfile at an electronic lockbox 233 associated with a payee. The batchfile may include consumer correspondence information associated withcorrespondence between at least one payor and the payee. At step 620,the computer device 224 may determine whether at least a portion of thecommunications information included in the batch file corresponds to apayee request. In some cases, the payee request may correspond to adelimiter associated with a correspondence report to be received at thepayee computer system 240. For example, the payee computer system 240may be configured to use a delimiter (e.g., an envelope image) todifferentiate between different consumer communications. In other cases,the payee request may be associated with processing a payment receivedby a payor, such as an allowable funds type to be processed by theelectronic lockbox system, such as a domestic funds type. At step 630,the computer device 224 may communicate a consumer correspondence reportto the payee computer system 240. The consumer correspondence report mayinclude at least the portion of the communications information thatcorresponds to the payee request, such as using an envelope image, orother information associated with the envelope, as a delimiter betweendifferent consumer communications.

In some cases, the computer device 224 may be configured to receiveinformation corresponding to one or more payee requests, where the oneor more payee requests may include at least one of a report formatrequest and a payment request. For example, the report format requestmay comprise a delimiter request. In such cases, the delimiter (e.g., anenvelope image) may be used to identify individual consumercorrespondence within the consumer correspondence report. In some cases,the method 600 may further include creating, by the computer device 224,a simulated envelope image 500 associated with an electronic consumercorrespondence that was electronically received at the payment processorcomputer system 210. In some cases, the simulated envelope image 500 maybe used as the delimiter between transactions associated with differentpayors.

In some cases, the computer device 224 may be further configured toidentify information corresponding to one or more financial transactionsin the batch file. For example, the computer device 224 may identify oneor more financial transaction are between the at least one payor and thepayee. The computer device 224 may then be configured to deposit fundsassociated with the one or more financial transactions into an accountassociated with the payee, wherein a type of the finds is included as apayee request. In some cases, identifying, by the computer device 224,information corresponding to the one or more financial transactions inthe batch file may include identifying a funds type associated with eachof the one or more transactions, comparing the identified funds typewith a specified funds type included as a payee request, and/orrejecting the one or more financial transactions that may be associatedwith a funds type different than the funds type included as a payeerequest. The computer device may further be configured to communicateone or more of the rejected financial transaction to at least one of thepayment processor, via the payment processor computer system 210, and/orthe payee, via the payee computer system 240.

In some cases, the method 600 may include identifying, by the computerdevice 224, an electronic lockbox 233 associated with the batch file andassigning the batch file to the identified electronic lockbox 233. Forexample, identifying the electronic lockbox 233 associated with thebatch file may include comparing, by the computer device 224, a firstelectronic lockbox identifier associated with a header section of thebatch file with a second electronic lockbox identifier associated with aparticular consumer communication included in the communicationsinformation of the batch file. In response to the comparison, thecomputer device 224 may assign the batch file to the electronic lockboxassociated with the second electronic lockbox identifier when the secondlockbox identifier is different than the first electronic lockboxidentifier.

In some cases, another illustrative method 700 may begin at 710 byreceiving, by the computer device 224, a payee request file from apayee. The payee request file may include one or more reporting requestsassociated with consumer communications received at a payment processor.At 720, the computer device 224 may create a driver file based on theone or more requests received from the payee computer system 240 in thepayee request file. In some cases, the driver file may specify at leasta format for a batch file to be provided by the payment processorcomputer system 210, where the batch file may include informationcorresponding to one or more consumer communications received by thepayment processor. At 730, the computer device 224 may assign the batchfile to an electronic lockbox 233 associated with the payee. The batchfile may include information corresponding to the one or more consumercommunications received at the payment processor. At 740, the computerdevice 224 may create a report that may include the one or more consumercommunications received in the batch file. The report may be formattedsuch that each of the one or more consumer communications is delimitedby a delimiter (e.g., an envelope image 410, 500, an alphanumericcharacter string, a symbol, and the like) as defined in the payeerequest file.

In some cases, the method 700 may further include creating, by thecomputer device 224, the simulated envelope image 500 that maycorrespond to each of the one or more customer communications receivedelectronically by the payment processor. The computer device 224 maycreate the report using a delimiter, such as an envelope image delimiterbetween different consumer communications. The envelope image delimitermay correspond to at least one of an image of an actual envelope 410when the consumer communication is received by mail by the paymentprocessor and the simulated envelope image 500 when the consumercommunication is received electronically by the payment processor.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of at least a portion of an organizationalhierarchy for managing consumer communication information in a batchfile for use by an electronic lockbox 233 according to one or moreillustrative aspects described herein. In some cases, electroniccommunications and/or mail received from one or more payors may besorted and batched into an electronic transaction form. The electronictransactions 801 may be sorted by any identifier contained in the firstset of information or the second set of information. In some cases, theelectronic lockbox 220 may be configured to receive one or more batchfiles 802 based on consumer communications received at a paymentprocessor site. The consumer communications may include electroniccommunication and/or physical mail communications. In some cases, theelectronic communications may be received in a form (e.g., an email, aweb form, and the like) that may directly be usable as an electronictransaction 801 that may be included in a particular batch file 802. Forexample, an electronic transaction 801 may be entered in the batch file802 as an entry in the envelope list 330. In some cases, a postalcommunication, such as the envelope 410 and its contents (e.g., thecheck(s) 412, the coupon 411, the supplemental information 413 a, andthe like) may be scanned, where the subsequent scanned information maybe stored as an electronic transaction 801 for inclusion in the batchfile 802.

Various aspects described herein may be embodied as a method, anapparatus, or as computer-executable instructions stored on one or morenon-transitory and/or tangible computer-readable media. Accordingly,those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardware implementation,an entirely software implementation (which may or may not includefirmware) stored on one or more non-transitory and/or tangiblecomputer-readable media, or an implementation combining software andhardware aspects. Any and/or all of the method steps described hereinmay be embodied in computer-executable instructions stored on acomputer-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readablemedium. Additionally or alternatively, any and/or all of the methodsteps described herein may be embodied in computer-readable instructionsstored in the memory of an apparatus that includes one or moreprocessors, such that the apparatus is caused to perform such methodsteps when the one or more processors execute the computer-readableinstructions. In addition, various signals representing data or eventsas described herein may be transferred between a source and adestination in the form of light and/or electromagnetic waves travelingthrough signal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers,and/or wireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).

Aspects of the disclosure have been described in terms of illustrativeembodiments thereof. Numerous other embodiments, modifications, andvariations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims will occurto persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of thisdisclosure. For example, one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the steps illustrated in the illustrative figures may beperformed in other than the recited order, and that one or more stepsillustrated may be optional in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: sending, by a driver filegenerator via a network to a payment processor computing system, adriver file that identifies an information format of a batch fileincluding a payee preference and defines one or more rules to identifyremittances to be assigned to a hybrid electronic lockbox, wherein theremittances include a plurality of physical remittances and a pluralityof electronic remittances received at the payment processor computingsystem between payors and a payee within a specified time period;receiving, via the network from the payment processor computing systemby a batch file processor of a hybrid electronic lockbox computingsystem, the batch file associated with the payee, the batch fileincluding the rules and scanned copies of the plurality of physicalremittances and information corresponding to the plurality of electronicremittances, wherein the scanned copies of the plurality of physicalremittances includes an image of a physically received envelope for eachphysical remittance; assigning, by the batch file processor, the batchfile to a hybrid electronic lockbox associated with the payee;generating, by an image generator, a simulated envelope image for eachof the plurality of electronic remittances, wherein the simulatedenvelope image comprises an image formatted to resemble a scannedphysical envelope had one been associated with a particular electronicremittance, wherein the simulated envelope image includes at least oneof information capable of identifying a consumer associated with afinancial transaction or an identifier of the hybrid electronic lockbox;and generating, by a report generator, a report including the pluralityof electronic remittances and the plurality of physical remittancesassociated with the batch file, wherein the report includes a pluralityof delimiters between each of the plurality of electronic remittancesand each scanned copy of the plurality of physical remittances andwherein each delimiter comprising one of an associated scanned physicalenvelope or an associated simulated envelope image, each delimiterincluding information capable of identifying at least one of a consumerassociated with the financial transaction or a lockbox identifier. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the batch file and the physicalremittances comprise information associated with a plurality offinancial transactions between one or more payors and the payee.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the payee preference comprises a desiredsequence of documents associated with each of the plurality ofelectronic remittances.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the payeepreference comprises a delimiter identifying individual financialtransactions within the report.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thepayee preference identifies a transaction to be communicated as aphysical remittance.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:creating, by the image generator, the simulated envelope image for useas a delimiter identifying individual financial transactions within thereport based on the payee preference.
 7. The method of claim 1,comprising: identifying, by a deposit processor, payment informationcorresponding to the plurality of electronic remittances in the batchfile and the scanned copies of the plurality of physical remittances;and depositing funds associated with the plurality of electronicremittances into an account associated with the payee, wherein a type ofthe funds is identified by the payee preference.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein identifying payment information corresponding to theplurality of electronic remittances in the batch file comprises:identifying a funds type associated with each of the plurality ofelectronic remittances; comparing the funds type with the type of thefunds identified by the payee preference; rejecting one or more of theelectronic remittances having a funds type different than the type offunds identified by the payee preference; and requesting a physicalremittance corresponding to each of one or more financial transactionsrejected for having a funds type different than the funds typeidentified by the payee preference.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising depositing funds associated with the one or more physicalremittances into an account associated with the payee.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: comparing a first electronic lockboxidentifier associated with the batch file with a second electroniclockbox identifier associated with at least one of the plurality ofelectronic remittances included in the batch file; and assigning thebatch file to an electronic lockbox associated with the secondelectronic lockbox identifier responsive to determining that the secondlockbox identifier is different from the first electronic lockboxidentifier.
 11. A system comprising: a network; and a hybrid electroniclockbox computing device comprising a processor and a non-transitorymemory device storing instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the hybrid electronic lockbox computing device to: send, by adriver file generator via the network to a payment processor computingsystem, a driver file that identifies an information format of a batchfile including a payee preference and defines one or more rules toidentify remittances to be assigned to a hybrid electronic lockbox,wherein the remittances include a plurality of physical remittances anda plurality of electronic remittances received at the payment processorcomputing system between payors and a payee within a specified timeperiod; receive, by a batch file processor, the batch file associatedwith the payee, the batch file including the rules and scanned copies ofthe plurality of physical remittances and information corresponding tothe plurality of electronic remittances, wherein the scanned copies ofthe plurality of physical remittances includes an image of a physicallyreceived envelope for each physical remittance; assign, by the batchfile processor, the batch file to a hybrid electronic lockbox associatedwith the payee; generate, by an image generator, a simulated envelopeimage for each of the plurality of electronic remittances, wherein thesimulated envelope image comprises an image formatted to resemble ascanned physical envelope had one been associated with a particularelectronic remittance, wherein the simulated envelope image includes atleast one of information capable of identifying a consumer associatedwith a financial transaction or an identifier of the hybrid electroniclockbox; and generate, by a report generator, a report including theplurality of electronic remittances and the plurality of physicalremittances associated with the batch file, wherein the report includesa plurality of delimiters between each of the plurality of electronicremittances and each scanned copy of the plurality of physicalremittances and wherein each delimiter comprising one of an associatedscanned physical envelope or an associated simulated envelope image,each delimiter including information capable of identifying at least oneof a consumer associated with the financial transaction or a lockboxidentifier.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the batch file and thephysical remittances comprise information associated with a plurality offinancial transactions between one or more payors and the payee.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the payee preference comprises a desiredsequence of documents associated with each of the plurality ofelectronic remittances.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the payeepreference comprises a delimiter identifying individual financialtransactions within the report.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein thepayee preference identifies a transaction to be communicated as aphysical remittance.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein thenon-transitory memory device stores instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the hybrid electronic lockbox computing device to:create, by the image generator, the simulated envelope image for use asa delimiter identifying individual financial transactions within thereport based on the payee preference.
 17. The system of claim 11,wherein the non-transitory memory device stores instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the hybrid electronic lockbox computingdevice to: identify, by a deposit processor, payment informationcorresponding to the plurality of electronic remittances in the batchfile and the scanned copies of the plurality of physical remittances;and deposit funds associated with the plurality of electronicremittances into an account associated with the payee, wherein a type ofthe funds is identified by the payee preference.
 18. The system of claim11, wherein the non-transitory memory device stores instructions that,when executed by the processor, cause the hybrid electronic lockboxcomputing device to: identify a funds type associated with each of theplurality of electronic remittances; compare the funds type with thetype of the funds identified by the payee preference; reject one or moreof the financial transactions having a funds type different than thetype of funds identified by the payee preference; and request a physicalremittance corresponding to each of one or more electronic remittancesrejected for having a funds type different than the funds typeidentified by the payee preference.
 19. The system of claim 18, whereinthe non-transitory memory device stores instructions that, when executedby the processor, cause the hybrid electronic lockbox computing deviceto: deposit funds associated with the one or more physical remittancesinto an account associated with the payee.
 20. The system of claim 11,wherein the non-transitory memory device stores instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the hybrid electronic lockbox computingdevice to: compare a first electronic lockbox identifier associated withthe batch file with a second electronic lockbox identifier associatedwith at least one of the plurality of electronic remittances included inthe batch file; and assign the batch file to an electronic lockboxassociated with the second electronic lockbox identifier responsive todetermining that the second lockbox identifier is different from thefirst electronic lockbox identifier.